“ICC sent us a correspondence reporting the suspect action of Sagar Khadka and Rahul Biswokarma,” Tanka Paneru, the general secretary of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) informed.

The ICC has directed CAN not to select them without ensuring remedial works. The ICC letter reads: “Please ensure that the analysis and any remedial work are carried out on these bowlers prior to any further selection as a bowler to any of your national team.”

The two spinners from Region No 4 Bhairahawa were part of the Nepali team that reached the plate final of the Youth World Cup held in Malaysia in February. As one of the key players of the team, Rahul took 10 wickets and scored 51 runs in six matches while Sagar took two wickets and scored 47 runs in as many matches.

“I have not been informed about this,” Rahul, considered a player for watch, said over telephone. “I don’t think my bowling action is suspicious and if there is any shortcoming, I can improve on that.”

According to Paneru, CAN will decide on further steps only after the ongoing Springwood National League Cricket Tournament. This also means that both reported players, playing for their regional team in the national league, can continue playing in the event.

Nepal is scheduled to play two important international events this year – the World Cricket League Division 5 in May in Jersey and the ACC Elite Trophy in July. Both can not be considered for the selection of these events.

The players reported for suspect action have to go through the action correction and only after scientific analysis of the improved bowling action is found to be okay, the players can compete in the international level.

The pace attack led by man-of-the-match Jason Dawes, who took four wickets, utilized the early freshness of the pitch to bowl Nepal out for mere 74 runs in 25.3 overs in the rain shortened 27-overs match. The Caribbean batsmen then reached the modest target in just 14.2 overs losing three wickets to take the Plate title away from defending champion.

Nepal’s decision to go with its usual formula of putting up a score and defending it by suffocating the opposition batsmen misfired as the pitch covered for the best part of three days due to persistent rain had life on it and the West Indies bowlers utilized it to the hilt.

“It’s only a 54-over game and the wicket doesn’t change that much in the second innings,” Nepali coach Roy Dias defended the decision. But his West Indies counterpart begged to differ.
“I was a bit surprised by their decision to bat first,” former West Indies Test player Larry Gomes exclaimed. “There was plenty of life in the wicket and the bowlers exploited it.”

Captain Paras Khadka too believed it was a right decision. “We had to go with our strength. We wanted to put around 120 on the board batting first,” skipper Paras Khadka said indicating to Nepal’s dismal performance while chasing.

The team gambled by sending Gyanendra Malla in to open with wicket keeper Mahesh Chhetri in place of Anil Mandal but Mahesh got out in the third ball of the first over.

Anil Mandal then edged down the leg side to keeper Devon Thomas in the last ball of the second over to make it 4/2.

Gyanendra, who had failed in the tournament coming, looked to be in good touch middling a few balls and even hit an exquisite flick to the square leg boundary but got a peach of a ball from Dawes that moved out to square him up for an edge to first slip.

Rom Shrestha then got a rough decision to be adjudged caught down the leg side reducing Nepal to 17/4. “We lost four wickets early as the boys were facing this pace for the first time,” Dias said.

Paras tried to counterattack hitting a couple of fours but once he fell to a diving catch in slips for 12, Nepal looked down and out. Sagar Khadka played valiantly taking up a nasty blow on his chest and made unbeaten 17 off 55 balls to topscore as none of the other batsmen could reach double figures.

Raj Shrestha also apparently got a rough decision but it was a disappointing batting performance. The total was largely contributed by 18 extras.

West Indies looked to be in a hurry while chasing the lowly target and both their openers were lucky to survive confident caught behind appeals of left-arm pacer Amrit Bhattarai. Kieron Powell made a quick-fire 24 off 16 balls including a towering sixer off Paras before edging Amrit at first slip while the other opener Adrien Barath got 15 before falling to Rahul BK.

Paras also had a confident caught behind appeal turned down against Barath. Amrit got another wicket as Darren Bravo finished Nepal off with a typically aggressive innings of 24 from 15 deliveries laced with three fours and a straight six.

“May be things could have been different. But to be frank 75 was simply not enough,” Paras reflected on the rough umpiring decisions.

“We wanted to win this title as we came from a tough group that included India and South Africa who have both reached final,” the victorious captain Shamarh Brooks said praising Amrit for his bowling. “He is one for the future.” The Nepali team will reach Kathmandu on Sunday.

West Indies qualified for the Plate final with an easy six-wicket win over Papua New Guinea on Wednesday. PNG were bowled out for 89 runs 36.5 overs and WI reached the target in just 15.3 overs losing four wickets.

The lanky all-rounder topscored with 44 after winning the toss to take Nepal to a challenging score of 143/8 in the rain curtailed 34-overs match and then took two wickets apart from affecting a run out with a direct hit to condemn Namibia to a narrow loss.

He braved nausea in the later part of the second innings to marshal his troops rattled by Namibian assault and also bowled the crucial 32nd and 34th overs to take defending champion Nepal to the final. “Paras captained the team very well and handled the bowlers exceptionally under pressure,” Nepali coach Roy Dias lauded his skipper.

Chasing 144, Namibia made a cautious start under a light drizzle and made just seven runs in the first five overs. The openers then tried to hit out and were dismissed by Amrit Bhattarai and Paras to be reduced to 17/2. “We batted very slowly in the beginning and failed to get the early momentum,” Namibian coach Louis Foster said.

Nepal looked to be cruising to victory with the Namibians making just 22 runs in the 10 overs but captain LP van der Westhuizen, filling in for regular skipper Dawid Botha, who went back home for his university exams, had other intentions and flayed Nepali bowlers all around the park to put Nepal under tremendous pressure.

The Nepali fielders buckled under the assault and conceded runs due to poor ground fielding. “Our ground fielding was pathetic. We gave 20-30 runs and could have lost due to it,” Paras conceded.

The southpaw, who had also topscored with a polished 65 in the group match against Nepal, played a swashbuckling innings of 33 off just 28 balls including three fours and a towering six over midwicket off Raj Shrestha and added 50 runs for the third wicket with No 3 Raymond van Schoor.

He then played across the line and missed a full toss from Sagar Khadka to be dismissed lbw but van Schoor kept on batting intelligently to keep Namibia in the hunt until the end. “I felt good in the middle but I missed a full toss,” Westhuizen rued.
Namibia needed 28 runs from the last three overs with four wickets remaining and got 10 runs from an over of off-spin bowled by Paras. Left-arm spinner Rahul BK then took two wickets conceding three runs in the penultimate over to swing the pendulum decisively into Nepal’s favor.

Schoor lofted Paras to deep mid-wicket off the third ball of the last over but Anil Mandal took a good running catch as Namibia was left to score 13 runs off the last three balls. Schoor topscord with 48 off 73 balls.

Geri Jan Coetzee hit the last ball for a straight six but Namibia still lost by four runs to suffer yet another narrow defeat against Nepal following the three-run loss in the group game. Apart from Paras and Rahul, Raj also took a couple of wickets.

Earlier, Paras anchored Nepali innings before getting out in the 33rd over to give respectability to the total after the match started three hours behind schedule owing to persistent rain.

He made 44 off 63 with three fours and added vital 43 runs for the third wicket with opener Anil Mandal after yet another failure for Gyanendra Malla. Anil got three lives in his 54-ball 23 and looked to be getting into the rhythm before he was run out when Paras sent him back after calling for a single initially. Opener Mahesh Chhetri also got a life before being dismissed for nine.

“We gave too many extras and dropped a few catches though our ground fielding was good,” Namibian coach Foster said pointing toward the 21 extras that included 17 wides. Rom Shrestha then made 18 runs off 22 balls with a six and added crucial 27 runs with Paras to lift Nepali run rate above four. Sean Silver took three wickets while Keady Strauss got two for the losing side.

Nepal now plays the winner of Wednesday’s match between West Indies and Papua New Guinea in the final slated for Saturday.

BY PREM DHAKAL, Johar Bahru, Malaysia

 

FOW 1-26(M Chhetri) 2-28(G Malla) 3-76(A Mandal) 4-82(A Gupta) 5-95(R Biswokarma), 6-102(P Thapa) 7-129(P Khadka) 8-133(Rom Shrestha)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd
M Engelbrecht	7	0	15	0	4
K Strauss	6	0	25	2	3
G Coetzee	5	0	18	1	1
L van der Westhuiz	4	0	22	0	2
B Scholtz	7	0	39	1	1
S Silver	5	0	20	3	-

 

Namibia U-19 Innings

Batsman	How Out		Runs	Bls	4s	6s
S Silver	c R Biswokarma b A Bhattarai		7	16	1	0
C Bouwer	lbw b P Khadka		8	31	0	0
R van Schoor	c A Mandal b P Khadka		48	73	2	0
L van der Westhuiz	lbw b S Khadka		33	38	2	1
E Steenkamp+	b R Shrestha		1	4	0	0
T Louw	run out P Khadka		7	20	0	0
K Strauss	c&b R Shrestha		15	24	0	0
M Engelbrecht	st M Chhetri b R Biswokarma		0	3	0	0
H Ya France	c G Malla b R Biswokarma		1	2	0	0
G Coetzee	not out		9	4	0	0
B Scholtz	not out		0	0	0	0
extras	(b0 lb5 w5 nb0)		10
TOTAL	9 wickets for		139

 

FOW 1-15(S Silver) 2-17(C Bouwer) 3-67(L van der Westhuiz) 4-68(E Steenkamp), 5-81(T Louw) 6-116(K Strauss) 7-126(M Engelbrecht) 8-128(H Ya France), 9-131(R van Schoor)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd
A Bhattarai	7	0	16	1	2
P Khadka	7	1	29	2	-
R Shrestha	6	1	23	2	2
S Khadka	7	0	33	1	1
R Biswokarma	7	0	33	2	-

]]> http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/26/paras-leads-nepal-to-plate-final/feed/ 0 http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/26/nepal-looks-to-resurrect-batting/ http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/26/nepal-looks-to-resurrect-batting/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:57:42 +0000 Cricket.com.np http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/26/nepal-looks-to-resurrect-batting/ Nepal takes on Namibia in the semifinal of the Plate Championship of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup at the Johor Cricket Academy Ground on Tuesday in what will be a rematch of their last group game in Penang.

Nepal registered a narrow three-run victory while defending 164. It was the first victory for defending Plate champion team. The team carried the winning momentum into the quarterfinal crushing Zimbabwe – a Test playing nation by 99 runs on Sunday.

“The gamble we took paid off against Namibia, otherwise we did not do anything exceptional,” Nepali skipper Paras Khadka conceded about the league match victory. “We won that match without putting up a good score, but that does not mean we will be complacent. Namibia is a good team,” he added.

Batting has been the Nepal’s Achilles heel throughout the tournament as the top order, with the exception of opener Mahesh Chhetri, has failed to contribute. However, the big victory against Zimbabwe even without good batting has given the team a confidence that it can beat any team if the batting clicks.

“I am very worried about batting. Namibia is a strong side. We were lucky to beat them. It’s just because their set batsman played a bad shot that we won,” Nepali coach Roy Dias said. “Apart from Puspa, no one from the new lot has scored and the big four (except Mahesh) have been failing.”

“It’s a 50-50 game,” Dias said. “Malaysia easily beat Zimbabwe and Namibia hammered Malaysia by nine wickets.”

It’s time for the batsmen to put their hands up and be counted to help Nepal defend the Plate crown as the team cannot just rely on the bowling artillery.

A few batsmen have looked good. “We have not been able to convert starts into big scores,” Paras, who himself has thrown away a couple of starts, said. “We have been losing wickets at regular intervals and we have to stop that,” he explained hoping that the bowler would continue to fire.

Big hitting Rom Shrestha, who had to be withdrawn just minutes before the start against Zimbabwe due to weakness, has recovered fully and is expected to play.

On Monday, it rained here but if rain intervenes, the match will resume from where it was stopped on Wednesday, the reserve day, if the result cannot be obtained using D/L method, which requires at least 20 overs in each innings.

BY PREM DHAKAL, Johar Bahru, Malaysia

Nepal put up a clinical bowling performance to thrash Zimbabwe by 99 runs in the plate quarterfinal of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup at the MPTI ground on Sunday.

New ball bowlers Paras Khadka and Amrit Bhattarai took three wickets each in their opening spells to rip the heart out of the Zimbabwean attack after Nepal put up 158 runs. The victory set up semifinal clash with Namibia, which beat host Malaysia by nine wickets in the other quarterfinal.

Paras and Amrit extracted prodigious seam movement from the helpful pitch to reduce the Africans to 24/6 in 12.4 overs making the Test nation pay for the decision to chase for victory. The quickies took wickets in tandem with Paras taking lead and Amrit following thrice.

Rahul Biswokarma took a wicket and left-arm spinner Raj Shrestha took the remaining three to fashion an emphatic victory. This was Nepal’s sixth victory over a Test nation in the event since 2002.

“We did not expect to win by that margin,” a relieved Paras conceded. “Amrit and I managed to put the ball on the right spots and the pitch provided seam movement.”

Tinanshe Chimbambo topscored with 20 before Mahesh Chhetri stumped him while Solomon Mire remained not out on 16 as none of other Zimbabwean batsmen reached the double figures.

The Zimbabweans who had chased 203 against Nepal in a practice match on the Valentine’s Day were all at sea with the moving ball and surrendered meekly for yet another capitulation against an associate country after going down to Malaysia in a group game.

“Our batsmen struggled with seaming ball. They bowled exceptionally,” Zimbabwean coach Shepherd Makunura said.

The first six wickets to fall proved the amount of seam movement. Three were caught behind, one caught at slip, one adjudged lbw and the other bowled. Mahesh, apart from three catches, affected two stumpings to cap a fruitful day after scoring 16 as an opener.

Puspa Thapa during his knock. ICC PHOTO

Paras was adjudged man of the match, but also the hero of the match was Puspa Thapa. The diminutive batsman came in at 59 and lost Akash Gupta at 79/7 but shouldered the responsibility and played his knock of career scoring 40 runs to take Nepal to a defendable total.

“I am very happy to have taken responsibility,” he said about the innings. “I remembered the words of wisdom from my coaches and seniors,” the low-profile lad said adding that he would like to dedicate his inning for national player Yunil Shrestha, his home-town hero.

Nepal looked set to be condemned for a lowly total after yet another top-order failure but Puspa added vital 53 runs for the eighth wicket with Raj to give something for the bowlers to bowl on. He looked untroubled in his 48-ball innings laced with three fours and a six.

Raj then added another valuable 20 runs with the last man Amrit Bhattarai (9 not out) before getting out for 19 while going for a big hit in the 46th over. “Our bowlers bowled well but a couple of Nepalis guys played well,” Makunura added.

“Their fast bowlers bowled well but Puspa and Raj batted well to resurrect our innings,” Paras said worrying about the batting failure.

Opener Anil Mandal fell for one, Gyanendra made another duck and the skipper himself was out after playing fluently for 20 as Nepal lost four wickets in the 50s to be reduced to 59-6. Stewart Matsika and Edzal Jaure took three wickets each for Zimbabwe.

“I am satisfied with the bowling but not satisfied overall,” Nepali coach Roy Dias said. “Puspa, Raj and even Amrit put their heads down and batted well but I am still worried about batting.” Assistant coach Jagat Tamata was also unhappy about the batting failure. “Bowling and fielding won us the match,” he quipped.

 

FOW

1-12(A Mandal) 2-13(G Malla) 3-52(P Khadka) 4-56(M Chhetri) 5-58(S Khadka)

6-59(R Biswokarma) 7-79(A Gupta) 8-138(P Thapa) 9-143(A Rana) 10-158(R Shrestha)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
K Jarvis	10	2	30	1	8	1
P Masvaure	9	1	28	1	3	-
E Jaure	8.1	1	34	3	7	-
S Matsika	10	1	34	3	2	-
T Chitongo	7	0	16	0	2	-
H Dinembira	1	0	6	1	-	-

 

Zimbabwe U-19 Innings 59 All Out (Overs 27.2)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
H Dinembira	c M Chhetri	b A Bhattarai	1	17	0	0
T Mashonganyika	c G Malla	b P Khadka	0	11	0	0
S Moor	c M Chhetri	b A Bhattarai	4	11	0	0
T Chitongo	c M Chhetri	b P Khadka	1	8	0	0
P Masvaure*	lbw	b P Khadka	0	7	0	0
T Chimbambo+	st M Chhetri	b R Biswokarma	20	34	3	0
J Gaisford	lbw	b A Bhattarai	3	6	0	0
S Mire	not out		16	50	1	0
E Jaure	lbw	b R Shrestha	0	9	0	0
S Matsika		b R Shrestha	1	11	0	0
K Jarvis	st M Chhetri	b R Shrestha	0	1	0	0
extras		(b0 lb5 w8 nb0)	13
TOTAL		10 wickets for	59

 

FOW

1-5(T Mashonganyika) 2-10(S Moor) 3-13(T Chitongo) 4-13(H Dinembira)

5-15(P Masvaure) 6-24(J Gaisford) 7-52(T Chimbambo) 8-56(E Jaure) 9-58(S Matsika)

10-59(K Jarvis)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
A Bhattarai	8	0	14	3	4	-
P Khadka	7	2	13	3	1	-
R Shrestha	6.2	1	16	3	3	-
A Rana	2	0	8	0	-	-
R Biswokarma	4	2	3	1	-	-

]]> http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/24/pacers-set-up-win-over-zimbabwe/feed/ 0 http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/22/nepal-to-meet-zimbabwe-in-plate-quarter/ http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/22/nepal-to-meet-zimbabwe-in-plate-quarter/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:56:36 +0000 Cricket.com.np http://www.cricket.com.np/new/2008/02/22/nepal-to-meet-zimbabwe-in-plate-quarter/ After disheartening failure to reach the Super League despite creating opportunities, Nepal now meets Zimbabwe on Sunday in the Plate Quarterfinal.

After the conclusion of the first round, all associates and two Test nations – Zimbabwe and West Indies – have failed to reach the Super League and now vie for the Plate Championship to which Nepal is a defending champion.

On Friday, India defeated West Indies by 50 runs in Group B match to top the table. South Africa also proceeds from the group at expense of West Indies and Papua New Guinea.

In Group A, Pakistan went atop defeating Zimbabwe, who failed to register a single win in three matches also crashing to hosts Malaysia. New Zealand is the other team in the group to go to Super League.

Nepal and Namibia from Group C go for Plate whereas Sri Lanka defeated Australia by five wickets to proceed as the group leaders.

From Group D, Bangladesh and England proceeded to Super League whereas Bermuda and Ireland play Plate. Bangladesh defeated England by 13 runs on Friday to top the table.

The quarterfinal match-ups are as follows:

Super League: India vs England, Bangladesh vs South Africa, Sri Lanka vs New Zealand and Pakistan vs Australia.

Plate Championship: Malaysia vs Namibia, Nepal vs Zimbabwe, West Indies vs Ireland and Bermuda vs Papua New Guinea.

The first two quarterfinals of both groups will be played on Sunday, Feb 24 whereas the last two will be played on Monday, Feb 25.

Quarterfinals

Finally, Nepal salvaged some pride registering a nervous three-run victory over African qualifier Namibia in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2008 at the Malaysia Sains University Ground on Thursday.

Nepal scored 164 in 49.5 overs – thanks to defiant 62-run knock by man of the match Mahesh Chhetri – after electing to bat first before Gyanendra Malla proved to be the hidden armor taking two wickets in two overs to give Nepal a narrow victory.

With the win, Nepal now finishes third in Group C and now meets the fourth team of Group A – one among Malaysia and Zimbabwe. The opponent is most likely to be Zimbabwe, the Test nation that had defeated Nepal in the practice match, because only their win against defending champions Pakistan on Friday can put them ahead of Malaysia.

Malaysia, the qualifier as hosts, upset Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Nepal began with a good opening partnership of 38 runs in seven overs but Anil Mandal got bowled off Keady Strauss on seven. He was unlucky to get out after digging out a yorker but the ball rolled up to his stumps.

Gyanendra Malla (0), Sagar Khadka (7 off 46 balls) and Paras Khadka (12) were soon back to the pavilion with Nepal struggling at 80/4. Akash Gupta hit two elegant fours and a six before falling to Sean Silver at 21 and Rahul Biswokarma too failed to stay long and dragged a van der Westhuizen’s ball on to his stumps.

Mahesh’s 134-ball knock ended on 48th over. Rom Shrestha has a brief stay for 26 runs taking Nepal’s total past 150 and two run outs ended Nepal’s innings a ball earlier than scheduled.

Morne Engelbrecht, Keady Strauss and LP van der Westhuizen took two wickets each for the Africans.

“I am rather disappointed with my boys in particular Paras (Khadka), Sagar and Gyanendra who played the ball up in the air and paid the price,” said Nepal team manager Tarak Dixit. “The pitch seems to favor the spinners as most wickets fell to the spinners operating on both ends.”

In reply, Amrit Bhattarai and Paras took a wicket each to reduce Namibia to 29/9 (included a run out) in 12th overs. Silver (41) and Weshuizen almost batted Nepal out of the match with a 70-run partnership. Weshuizen, who hit three boundaries and a six, then added another 34 runs with Ewald Steenkamp (11) to demoralize the Nepal.

With 10 overs remaining, Namibia needed 28 runs with four wickets in hand it was all left to van der Westhuizen to carry on the assault. However, his innings ended when Rom Shrestha in the deep caught him.

He scored 65 off 75 balls and got out trying to hit six off Raj in a ball that Nepali coach Roy Dias believed was the lone good delivery. “Raj tried to bowl fast on a turning wicket. The only time he gave it a flight, he turned the ball and got the big wicket,” Dias said.

Gyanendra, who had never bowled at u-19 level earlier, bowled the 45th and got Ya France, caught behind by Mahesh. A tense drama unfolded as the Namibians crawled to 160-8, needing only five runs from 14 balls.

Gyanendra also ran out Elandre Oosthuizen with a clean throw to Raj Shrestha in the 48th over and returned to bowl his second in the 49th and bowled Morne Engelbrecht for seven off the last ball to fashion a thrilling win.

“Though we may have won, I am not satisfied, especially with batting,” Nepali coach Roy Dias said after the match. “The batsmen should concentrate more and should not just try to hit out of the ground,” he fumed.

On the other hand Namibia did almost every thing right other than crossing the finish line. “We bowled well and batted well initially. We played well for 90 overs and lost in the 10 overs,” Namibian skipper Dawid Botha summed up the match.

“We lost too many wickets at the wrong time,” Namibian coach Louis Foster pointed out after the heartbreaking loss. “Our spinners bowled very well but the new ball bowlers gave too many runs.”

Also on Wednesday, Sri Lanka defeated Namibia by 163 runs to progress to the Super League with Australia and ends Nepal’s mathematical chance of qualification. Nepal now plays in the Plate League.

Malaysia scored 194/8 in 50 overs. Zimbabwe in reply was out for 124 in 38.4 overs.

Invited to bat first, the hosts batted well, with A Faizal and A Faiz adding 70-run for third wicket and providing the foundation. Faizal got 30 while Faiz completed his half-century in 77 balls before getting out.

A good knock by S Aslan (40 off 42 balls) ensured Malaysia a good total that turned out to be too much for the Zimbabweans. For Zimbabwe, D Landman took three wickets while K Jarvis got a couple.

Zimababwe batsmen failed to show patient on the crease as Malaysian took wickets at regular interval to make it 77/5 in 24th over. From there on, Landman and T Chimbambo tried to reverse the match 35-run partnership – the biggest partnership of the innings.

Landman fell to Aslan at 112/5 and the Zimbabwean innings crumbled as they lost last five wickets for 12 runs with Aslan finishing with 3/41. A Ramly and Nik Azril each claimed a couple of wickets

For Zimbabwe, the top scorers were T. Tashonganyika (24), Chimbambo (22) and Landman (19). With the loss, Zimbabwe are not into the plate whereas Malaysia can progress to the super league if they defeat New Zealand on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh defeated Ireland by 8 wickets and West Indies beat Papua New Guinea by 176 runs.

With a round of match remaining in the league round, the situation of the teams is:

Group A: Pakistan, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Malaysia

Pakistan has already confirmed a Super League birth and Zimbabwe is already out. Good news for associate is that hosts Malaysia is still in contention to progress to Super League. Malaysia plays New Zealand on Thursday and the winner qualifies for the Super League.

Group B: India, West Indies, South Africa, Papua New Guinea

India is not yet confirmed the Super League birth despite two wins in two matches. South Africa plays PNG on Thursday while India plays West Indies on Friday. If South Africa and West Indies emerges winners in the matches, then the three Test nations will have four points each with top two on net run rate qualifying for the Super League. PNG is already out of contention.

Group C: Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Namibia

Australia and Sri Lanka, with two wins, have confirmed their progress while Nepal and Namibia will be in the plate after two loses. Nepal plays Namibia on Thursday for pride and Australia plays Sri Lanka on Friday for top spot.

Group D: England, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Ireland

With two wins, England and Bangladesh have qualified while the two associate nations are into the plate not. On Thursday, the bottom two play for pride while two Test nations plays for top spot.

Already confirmed in Super League: Australia, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh, Pakistan

Still in contention for Super League: New Zealand or Malaysia (winner of the Thursday’s game), Two From: West Indies or South Africa or India

Confirmed for Plate: Zimbabwe, Nepal, Namibia, PNG, Bermuda, Ireland

Nepal restricted Australia to 206 in 48.5 overs but got out in 110 in 32.1 overs to hand over the Aussies a big win. The defeat has virtually ended Nepal’s hopes of qualifying to the Super League.

While Australia qualified for the Super League from Pool C, Nepal looks destined to play Plate Championship once again with only a series of favorable results give Nepal some mathematical chance.

Nepal must now hope that Sri Lanka loses both its remaining matches against Namibia and Australia badly and should beat Namibia by a big margin to get into the Super League.

Nepali slow bowlers bowled brilliantly to bowl out the Aussies for 206 after they got off to a flying start but a magnificent bowling by man-of-the-match Pattinson and lack of application and sheer stupidity on the part of batsmen put paid to Nepali hopes.

It all started with opener Mahesh Chhetri’s run out off a free-hit off the last ball of the third over. Mahesh played the ball to third man and set out for a run but his partner Anil Mandal, who had hit two superb flicked-fours till then, sent him back and he was caught short by a throw from Phillip Hughes to wicketkeeper Dom O’Brien.

Mandal then himself got out at nine three balls later edging Pattinson to the wicketkeeper and skipper Paras Khadka was trapped in front a ball later by a sharp one reducing Nepal to 16/3 from 16/0 after it got 11 off the first over.

“We did well to restrict them but it all started (to go wrong) with that run out,” Nepali coach Roy Dais fumed.

Gyanendra Malla then looked solid before getting out at 17 edging Pattinson to Steven Smith at second slip giving the new ball bowler his third wicket in his first spell that ripped the heart out of the Nepali batting.

“There was something in it if you hit the deck early on. But it was very hot and I was getting tired after five overs,” Pattinson said proving how stupid the run out really was.

“We did not take Nepal lightly and played them like Pakistan or India,” he added

Nepal then lost its wickets to spinners Clive Rose and Smith, who took three wickets each, with careless shots to crumble down to 66/9 before No 9 Rahul BK and Amrit showed how to handle the spinners adding valuable 44 runs that kept the margin of loss to less than 100.

“Antim (Thapa), Sagar (Khadka) and Akash (Gupta) threw away their wickets. Only Gyanendra, Anil and Paras got good balls,” Dias added.

Rahul batted elegantly to make unbeaten 33 off 47 including three straight fours and a six in the same direction. Amrit made nine off 20 with two boundaries.

Earlier, Nepali slow bowlers bowled brilliantly to pull things back after Australian openers made 38 in the first five overs and 55 in 10.

Paras brought in left-arm spinner Raj Shrestha to replace expensive Amrit Bhattarai, the four-wicket star against Sri Lanka on Monday, and he immediately slowed things down along with disciplined Paras and gave the much needed breakthrough by bowling towering opener Kirk Pascoe for 37 off 39 balls that included five fours and a six.

Aussie captain Michael Hill, high in confidence after the swashbuckling hundred against Namibia on Sunday, then promoted himself to No 3 to unsettle Nepali spinners. He hit a brisk run-a-ball 12 including a six and a four off successive balls from Sagar but played one shot too many and holed out to Akash at long on giving Raj his second wicket.

Raj then dismissed Smith for 17 for his third wicket as spinners slowed things down for Australia. Opener Phillip Hughes made a patient 46 off 94 balls before being stumped by wicketkeeper Mahesh off Rahul.

The Aussies then somehow recovered and looked good to finish above 230 with useful contributions from Michael Cranmer (32) and James Faulkner (22) but Paras brought himself back in the 44th over to bowl off-spin to rattle the Aussies. He took three wickets in his second over of the spell and took another in his last to take 4/13 in the spell.

“We could have got more runs but we got out at the wrong time,” Australian captain Hill lamented. “But we always knew that 200 would be a good total as there was something in it early on for the new ball. And there was help for the spinners as well.”

Nepali skipper Paras was crestfallen after the match. “We really lost a good opportunity to get into the Super League,” he said not knowing the slim mathematical chance left. “I am satisfied with the bowling as we came back after a poor start but disappointed with batting. We lacked application from the batsmen.”

Sri Lanka faces Namibia on Wednesday while Nepal takes on Namibia in its last group match Thursday.

BY PREM DHAKAL, Penang, Malaysia